


leave the city

by ode_to_phan



Category: Twenty One Pilots, Tyler Joseph - Fandom, josh dun - Fandom
Genre: lil bit of self harm mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 23:48:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ode_to_phan/pseuds/ode_to_phan
Summary: if you were looking for something joshler then you've come to the wrong place, but i will be posting some joshler stuff eventually <3





	leave the city

**Author's Note:**

> i got writer's block so there is a cliffhanger but if you have any ideas for it please comment

It's three in the morning and Josh is woken up by his phone ringing. It's his best friend Tyler's mom. “Josh, have you heard from Tyler? He's…. gone,” she says, crying. He's confused. “Wha-? No, I haven't heard from him. Did he leave a note?” She takes a deep breath. “No. I tried calling him several times but he won't answer. I figured he may have went to your house.” “I'll call him.” He disconnects.

After a few rings, Tyler answers. “Tyler, where are you? Your mom just called me and was wondering if I knew. Are you okay? I'm worried,” Josh says as soon as his friend picks up. “I'm…. I don't know where I am. I just snuck out and kept walking. I've only been walking for about an hour and a half.” Josh is furious. “Why? Why would you sneak out? What was the point in that? You could get hurt,” he says coolly. “I'm sorry…. You know how bad my depression is….” He trails off and starts sobbing. “I'm sorry for blowing up at you. I'm going to come find you, just tell me your surroundings,” Josh says as he grabs his car keys and scribbles out a note for his mom. The note says 'finding Tyler. be back soon.’

About 30 minutes later Josh pulls onto a dirt road. Following Tyler's directions, it's not hard to see him. He's curled up at the base of a tree, freezing. His lips are blue. “Oh… my…. God. Are you okay?” Josh is breathing heavily. “Josh… I… I feel like I'm going to die. I'm freezing,” Tyler says, using a lot of effort. Josh helps him up and they get in the warm car. Luckily, Josh always keeps blankets in the car. Tyler wrapped himself in a blanket tightly. “Don't take me home. Don't take me to the hospital. If I go home, my mom will kill me. If I go to the hospital, I'll be there for quite a while.” 

They drive for about three hours, going nowhere in particular. Josh turns down the radio to speak. “Can I take you home now?” “Go ahead, just… help me explain everything to my mom.” “Of course I will,” Josh says solemnly. He turns the radio back up and drives Tyler home.

“Tyler Robert Joseph! Where have you been?!?! I've been worried sick!!!” “I'm… sorry, mom…. I got really upset again and just left,” Tyler says, crying. “Oh, it's okay. This time. Just don't do it again,” his mom says sternly. Josh turns to Tyler. “Do you want me to go?” His mom chimes in, saying “You can stay. He needs a friend.” Tyler turns toward the stairs and starts walking to his room, closely followed by the taller, purple-and-blue haired boy. 

Tyler's room had changed since Josh was last in it a few weeks ago. More poems than ever littered the walls. Drawings, most of them very sad or depressing, hung alongside them. One drawing caught Josh's eye. Tyler drew a picture of himself kneeling by a fire. Surrounding the drawing is a poem, titled 'Leave the City'. It says “I'm tired of tending to this fire/ I've used up all I've collected/ I have singed my hands/ It's glowing, embers barely showing/ proof of life in the shadows/dancing on my plans/ they know that it's almost/ they know that it's almost over/ in time I will leave the city…” Another poem is situated right next to it. It doesn't have a title (yet). It says, in calligraphy, “promise me this/ if I lose to myself/ you won't mourn a day/ and you'll move on to someone else.” Tyler sees Josh reading it. “Don't read that one.” “Why not?” “I don't want anyone to read it. You do see what it says, right?” Josh sighs and doesn't answer for a minute. “I saw what it says. Don't tell me that's a suicide note. Don't even think about killing yourself. You're my only friend. If I lost you…” he bursts into tears.

The pair sits on Tyler's bed but don't talk. Josh is furiously rubbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. Tyler is just sitting with his knees to his chest. Both are very upset. Tyler looks at Josh and says “Remember when we were younger? When we didn't know about depression?” “Yeah. Those were the good old days, weren't they?” Tyler sighs. “Yeah, they were good days. Sure, they weren't the best, but at least we didn't have to fight our demons.” “Yeah… Hey, Tyler, can I ask you something?” “S-sure?,” Tyler says, slightly confused. “You've been wearing hoodies a lot. Have you been… self harming?” “Wh-what? N-no, not at all,” he lies. Josh has known Tyler long enough to know the signs that he's lying. They've been friends for ten years. “I know you're not telling the truth,” Josh says sadly. Tyler gets up and runs. He flies down the stairs and sprints out to his treehouse (more like his second home).

The treehouse is huge. It has two bedrooms and even a sitting room. The second bedroom had been repurposed for a music studio, complete with a wireless microphone. All of the paint is either yellow, black, or blue, and it's all faded. Tyler sits on the couch and cries. Josh comes in cautiously. “Tyler, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to shame you for anything. All I'm doing is making sure you're okay,” he says with a sigh. “You don't wear hoodies much and now you live in them. Last time you did this, I came over and saw that you'd completely MUTILATED your arms.” Tyler huffs. “Josh, I'm fine. F-I-N-E. Fine,” he says sharply. “Okay, okay, I give up. I'll leave you alone.” Josh turns to leave, but his sleeve is grabbed by Tyler. “Don't leave. Just don't talk about self harm any more.” Josh agrees to this and they decide to listen to spotify.

Tyler turns on his newest playlist, entitled ‘ecstasy.’ Such Small Hands by La Dispute starts playing. “God, this is mortifying.” He skips it. He doesn't want anyone, not even Josh, to know that he listens to that. It'd look suspicious, considering the only person his age he actually knows is Josh. But he only likes the song because he thinks it's catchy. After about three more skips, he comes to a good song. Iris. He sings along to the chorus. “And I don't want the world to see me/ 'cause I don't think that they'd understand/ when everything's made to be broken/ I just want you to know who I am.” His voice is that of an angel's. Josh suddenly speaks. “Tyler, you should sing more! Your voice is great. What happened to the songs you recorded a few months ago?” “I deleted them. I don't know why, I just did,” Tyler replies with a sigh. Josh looks at him, sighs, and slightly shakes his head.

They listen to music for about an hour, then Tyler's phone dies. Josh left his in the house. No phones, just them, the treehouse, and the studio. They decide to record some songs, using the poems lining the walls of the treehouse. Over the years, Tyler has written over five thousand poems. Instead of recording just one song, they record eighteen and turn them into an album called 'No Phun Intended’. Josh takes all the files and uploads them to YouTube. “Josh, why did you do that?!?!” “Sorry, my finger slipped,” Josh says, laughing. “You know what, I've been meaning to post songs and poems lately. I never would've gotten this done if you didn't. Thanks.” “Anytime.” Josh gets up and crosses the room. He starts pacing. 

“Josh, why are you pacing?” Josh stops. “Anxiety.” Tyler looks down and says “I see.” Josh starts down the ladder. He runs and climbs a tree and just sits there. He starts crying, not noticing Tyler at the base of the tree. “Josh." Josh is startled. “Tyler." He wipes his eyes and looks down at his friend, who is climbing up.


End file.
